Shin Evangelion Movie:||

Following NERV's failed attempt to retrieve the Spears of Longinus and carry out the Human Instrumentality Project, the destruction caused by the Fourth Impact has been largely averted. In a state of disarray, Shinji Ikari, Asuka Langley Shikinami, and Rei Ayanami travel to Village 3—a survivor settlement free from Earth's ruination. There, Shinji slowly comes to terms with his past, developing an entirely different life from his days as an Evangelion pilot.

Meanwhile, NERV makes preparations to continue the Instrumentality Project by means of a new Impact. When WILLE's main aerial battleship arrives at the village, Shinji decides to board, believing that he can help by piloting an Evangelion. As new secrets are uncovered and a battle between WILLE and NERV approaches, the future of Earth hangs in the balance. Can Shinji save humanity and the rest of the world one last time?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Souryuu, Asuka Langley Main

Miyamura, Yuko Japanese

Ikari, Shinji Main

Ogata, Megumi Japanese

Ayanami (tentative), Rei Main

Hayashibara, Megumi Japanese

Ayanami, Rei Supporting

Hayashibara, Megumi Japanese

Katsuragi, Misato Supporting

Mitsuishi, Kotono Japanese

Nagisa, Kaworu Supporting

Ishida, Akira Japanese

Pen Pen Supporting

Hayashibara, Megumi Japanese

Ikari, Gendou Supporting

Tachiki, Fumihiko Japanese

Makinami, Mari Illustrious Supporting

Sakamoto, Maaya Japanese

Kaji, Ryouji Supporting

Yamadera, Kouichi Japanese

Sugitani, Yuuki Producer

Anno, Hideaki Director, Storyboard, Key Animation, Creator, Planning, Screenplay

Tsurumaki, Kazuya Director, Storyboard, Key Animation

Maeda, Mahiro Director, Storyboard, Key Animation

Reviews

Mar 7, 2021

iishoxyii

Recommended

What's Evangelion to you? For me it's both a touchstone and an uncomprehending able vision created by "Hideaki Anno" ~ double as enthralling as the mecha anime genre show it is and as distressing in the exploration of despair, making for a whole different level of an epic tale about angels and inner demons. Arguable as one of those shows that have numerous hidden messages in itself as the show has been going on, while some argue that it only plays up to a definite fatuous philosophy of the world. Whatever the case may be, NGE has established itself as one of the hot topics ... in the anime world for more than a decade now. It takes some time but every once in a while a movie is released to such a vast prolonged well-known admiration; that the likes of Your Name, Ghost In The Shell, Spirited Away, The Wind Rises, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo, Kimestu No-Yaiba Mugen Train, Princess Mononoke, The Secret Of Arrietty, are welcomed as an inspirational and adored by most, with some redefining features. Evangelion 3.0+1.0 is no exclusion as a movie that perhaps is not as ground-breaking currently as the original series was at the time of release that it peaked to its utmost limits and will ever be, but nevertheless, it is an awe-inspiring work that raises the bar even higher. An anime feature that can stand up to with the greats of the original releases. Neon Genesis Evangelion will always be broadly considered as one of the most momentous animes that was created in the 1990s, if not of all time. It will always be enormously well known for its heroic efforts to turn the mecha genre upside-down, its deep character improvements, and its eccentric subplot. Created by an acclaimed studio Khara, and written by both admired (and sometimes hated) writer Hideaki Anno, Evangelion has always been called a magnum opus by most anime fans.
Does it deserve the commendation?
Yes.

Story ~ 10
Evangelion tells a succinct and stunning story that tracks the emotional ordeal of its teenage hero characters, which stand as the solitary fighters of the war that humans don't stand a chance of winning. They're required to pilot gargantuan machinelike monsters (considered as Evas) to battle intractable enemy ones, called Angels. There's a massive count of people who live and breathe anime this is for them. With dozens of industry giants agitating out so many shows since Evangelion first came out as a mecha show that stole hearts away, today there isn't a shortage of shows of the same genre to watch, and the creators know their audience. They know what people want to watch nowadays; and the ability to live a fictional world that makes you feel authoritative, be adored for, and free from realism. To stand up with the best, with the likes of Evangelion 2.0 and 3.0 this movie is a masterpiece.

Animations ~ 10
The movie can be appreciated on a purely filmic level, as a mecha head trip. The images are created as an amalgam of hand-down and the CG simulation that allows complete flexibility of crusade, with some glimpses that swoop all around and through the cleverly complex machinery. The development of each of these new high-tech geniuses such as the space battleship Wunder, which has decks and wings prickling in all directions, like a giant robot's army knife – has an operational sense of scale. (The smart mechanism is designed by Ikuto Yamashita). All I could say about the animations briefly is that it was phenomenal.

Sound ~ 9
The theme song is "One Last Kiss" by Hikaru Utada ft. Hina somehow makes me feel a little uneasy because it also makes me realize that this is the last installment of the series, that being said it has nothing does nothing wrong with the song, its rhythm and its style marks the joyful and playful akin to the metal situation of the '80s. Being sad as it is it makes no difference on how beautiful the song is. I admit that I was doubtful and figured that I'd end up with a remix to a previous song but I was amazed to the core while I stayed and heard the whole song. A little oblivious and a little heart-melting that's what I feel about this song.

Characters ~ 9
It somehow seeks to disconnect all the characters from real people and swap them in its place with fictional characters that they can understand easily and behave in ways that are necessary and foreseeable. In truth, it's an amazing poisonous and blank existence and it can only be replaced by realism for so long for the characters living it. Ultimately, the tried-and-true deceits begin to run empty and the loneliness and the desolation sink once more, except now when you open your eyes and look around at the realism, that it's completely left behind to look back on and realize that your daily simple life has left you behind and all your left with is the despair and no option but to keep moving forward and to see a different world.

Enjoyment ~ 9
The original Neon Genesis Evangelion showed people that it understood them: Shinji's terror of denial, his ambiguity as he created this art of his to such acclaim, his solitude, disbelief, hindrance, and feebleness echoed within so many people that they believed that it was their own story because everyone could narrate to these passionately authentic human sentiments. The Evangelion Rebuilds are more pointed than that though and will always steer you away from realism and beyond normal beliefs of life strongly dividing its watchers into believing that it’s their own and making them live through it. In the end, I cried a little thinking it's all ending all of a sudden as the movie was about to end, and then I realized how far did we come since then and what a great journey it has been for all of us, that's what put a smile on why face while I stood there applauding.

Overall ~ 9
Now, this is where it gets dazzling.
Let's talk about the anime for a moment.
Escaping into another world that is entirely liberated by any of the aspects of our normal world: different from live-action television which still uses actors, situations, and scenarios that are shot in real places with real people, anime is something that is given life into existences and entirely erected worlds. It's such a mesmerizing experience. Don't get me wrong, this can be an unbelievable feature used to tell tales and stories that are greatly effective and likable. I will always love this genre for what it has to offer and how much it has accomplished and how dazzling and astute fragments that it can often produce.
It's not just high-class to anime, either: the moving ideals that can get people so hooked to the anime and patent themselves in many forms, from video games to online forums. These sensations and sentiments that move this kind of activity are not restricted to such a precise community, though. They seek to outbreak anime itself.
Neon Genesis Evangelion is universally appreciated, but its reconstructs are designed and targeted at people who have already had the experience with the genre itself, and people are not happy with what the bulk of the standard has become.
Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 is an absolute spectacle, as astonishing to the eyes as it is to the ears. The fourth film can out-do the first, second, and third installments in so many more ways, all the while taking the storytelling in a thrilling new way and new directions for both the old and new fans. A re-creation would have been too easy for Hideaki Anno and his crew – instead, they went for an above and beyond, reincarnating the ideals of the Evangelion verse that we've come to adore, offering us new elucidations fifteen years on, proving with some level of ferociousness that Eva is far from gone and forgotten. This movie solidifies its franchise, as it has done more than enough to surprise and inspire fans all over the world once again, reminding us all why every Eva fan fell in love with it in the first place.
Hugely experimental and magnificently exceptional, Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 is a roaring success.
And my last message ~ “Sayonara Subete No Evangelion”.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Aug 23, 2023

Preachee

Mixed Feelings

Contains some spoilers. (4/10 means I didn’t like it but it definitely isn’t bad. I thought it’s especially important to note for this review.)


Evangelion 3.0+1.0 (4.0) is difficult to completely hate. It's not amazing, yet possesses a given charm that makes it as irresistible as it is flawed. Well that is unless you’re one of those of ill-reputation intolerant OG Eva fans who recoil in apprehension at the sight of changes and unforgivingly deem a rebuild, of which serves a completely different purpose, already pointless from the get-go; or you somehow believe the anime is persuading you to touch grass and get pussies (unironically one ... of many stupid popular non sequiturs). No the rebuild isn’t unavailing, because it’s not some reciting remake to revisit for old time’s sake. It’s something that should not only be viewed with context, but also for what it is, and for what it’s worth. So instead of being annoyed by how your good ol’ themes are ostensibly being regurgitated but worse, let’s really try to be more objective here and look at what Anno REALLY wanted to communicate, and possibly where he succeeds and fails in doing so.

So why is it particularly difficult to hate 4.0? For starters, 4.0 is a glaringly personal work, and combining with the original Eva series and its 1997 sequel movie, it’s almost autobiographical for both Anno and the franchise itself. It’s really endearing in a way. The growth of Anno as a person and as an artist, not necessarily better but a growth in artistic philosophy is to be reckoned, is vivid. It isn’t concealing, if anything often a bit too blunt. Though I wouldn’t call the film 100% straightforward with its execution, it certainly is very frank with its emotions. An emotionally sincere movie is, after all, an honest attempt at reaching the audience, sans façade or snobbery. And that is, at the very least, a commendable effort. This directly reflects EoE’s approach, though the difference is black-and-white. You could say the 2 movies are of polar opposites despite their evident similarities. And this is key in understanding the rebuilds, as well as Anno as a changed man.

Since the majority of 4.0’s criticisms seem to stem from EoE's direct comparison, I think it's important to talk about EoE alongside. Now EoE isn’t an exceptionally well-structured film, nor is it a tonally firm one, nor does it have a very convincing narrative. But what matters is that some of the most prominent critiques I’ve seen directed at 4.0 is what EoE itself commits, and these detractors often love EoE. The plot is unnecessarily convoluted, basically neglecting some of the most important questions, and the structure makes it tonally unstable. EoE also outright refuses to give any reasonable payoffs to its supposed mystery, i.e. Adam and Lilith’s origins. Or truth is, it’s not that it didn’t really explain it, it sort of did but not in any proper manner. It doesn’t even seem to care about any of this at that point, which is... fair? Sure the movie’s focal is the characters’ psyches, hence a convoluted mess of an end product that shouldn't have made its other elements a cerebral exercise. And it's not that I’m intellectually handicapped or anything, the movie literally gives up on explaining any of this properly. It wasn’t being subtle, it just wanted to gloss over it. Unless you actively read on these to get some valid answers for yourself, this is simply something the movie chooses to do. It still makes sense, and yes you can even make sense of the disowned symbolism, but the neglectful approach is ultimately suboptimal. And yet many people agreed that it's for the better, so hey, if that’s the case then so is 4.0.

4.0 isn’t well laid-out either and seriously, the expositional info dumps make almost no sense whatsoever. The main thread that I seem to have a grasp of is its end goal of each event; everything else, from the perhaps allegorical/symbolic black moon to the “Pattern Blue! L-field is currently disgorging an infinite amount of Evangelions right out of its vaginal areas”, is all shit pulled right out of someone’s ass. Then again, I’m almost certain that in near future, there will be some 40-page journal article explaining every detail. But not that it matters, because this isn’t even what the film wants to convey, which only makes it all the more annoying. The stuffs that didn’t matter much are what you must work on the most. Sure it does complement the movie thematically, but like EoE, it probably boils down to very elemental concepts (such as of religious epiphany, or the death/ever-preeminent ‘existence’ of a greater being). For being a less-than-significant factor, it should be executed conceivably more unobtrusively to avoid striking as overbearing. And yet in both the rebuilds and the original, this was not the case. The series builds up its mystery around this, while 4.0 uses a large chunk of its runtime to explain, well, things. Which is why both of them annoy me, and I consider this to be an issue shared by the two films.

“4.0 is action-filled fan service trash.”
Can't say that's really a bad thing in itself. Even if it is for the thrill and less the philosophical rambling, that doesn’t mean it’s any cheaper. For the most part, the action is, I guess, alright. Breathtaking at times, and then you have some jarring CGI that somehow looks infinitely worse than 3.0. Maybe it was intentional for one or two instances (that one blatant 'unedited set' scene) but no, literally every scene with CGI looks awful. For a movie that has much to do with the action genre, it’s become a flaw. The soundtracks are great as standalones, but honestly the constant majesty of it does wear me out at some point. So there’s not much emphasis when it comes to the music, because the music directing isn’t super brilliant or anything. The choreography is fine. It does its job but other than that I don’t find much reason to adore it as much as EoE. But overall, I’d say it has some pretty high budget, especially for the meticulous and painstakingly gorgeous first act with breathtaking hand-drawn backgrounds and movements.

“The characters in 4.0 are worse than that of EoE. They aren’t as fleshed-out and some characters are worth as much as a couple of fan service.”
I will say this isn’t a completely confounding argument, but I generally disagree. Let’s get to the basics first. What constitutes a good character? It’s not that a more fleshed-out character is necessarily a better one. It’s not that suffering makes one more likable. It's not a prerequisite to have multiple episodes for the audience to get attached. Depth really isn’t so simple. But rudimentarily, characters are good when they serve the narrative well. An adventure film doesn’t need a tragic villain, and in some cases, that might even work against the narrative, especially tonally. Similarly, Evangelion doesn’t need Freudian psychoanalysis for it to be good. The narrative of the rebuild makes it quite apparent that that isn't the focal. 4.0 functions as a continuity of what had come before rather than a reiteration of the same idea. It is supposed to be an evolution. Shinji is still the center of the attention, however the rebuild leaves bread crumbs hinting small changes within him and what the people surrounding him means to him to eventually turn him into what he is in the end. And that is what 4.0 wants to focus on. Sure this might mean that some characters work more as archetypes to fulfill a development or theme, but that doesn’t mean it’s unequivocally worse.

For instance, to Shinji, Asuka is the love-hate relationship that's difficult to let go, though after a 14-year gap, they must both do so. It’s like Evangelion to Anno, a burden on his shoulder that he just has to set himself free from (the time-skip of the rebuild is 14 years after EoE as well, so some funny "coincidence" for you). But it’s not just a mental burden for a once depressed man, it is a work of passion and love from someone who's desperately honest in his arts. And he wants to confirm that, even back then, albeit engulfed in hatred and sadness, he really did love Eva anyway. Shinji loved Asuka too, and that’s what Asuka needs to hear, even if things cannot be reversed. Which is why Asuka is a subject of heavy fan service in this movie, because she desires to be seen as a woman by Shinji. And I’m not saying this really is the way to go about executing this, but I do think that’s the point. In their most vulnerable, naked self, instead of choking and continuing on hurting each other, they instead open up to finally move on, freeing themselves from their own shackles. The cloud of resentment has cleared after 14 years, and Anno can finally confess his love and gratitude to his very own creation, unlike the attitude we saw in EoE. And no, we didn’t get a full dive into literally every single insecurity there is in Asuka, but for what she is in this narrative, her character arc is sufficient. So it’s not so unmistakable to claim that EoE Asuka is decidedly better when the narratives are too fundamentally at odds with each other. Some characters, such as Rei in her previous appearances, definitely work as mere archetypes of Shinji’s own fantasy of being unconditionally loved. And I suppose I’m fine with that. I don’t need Rei to be so incredibly profound for the films to demonstrate its point, and I do think her characterization is at just the right amount.

Also, it seems that the perspective that 4.0 takes is often misunderstood (just like the unfairly hated prequel 3.0 but we’re not here to talk about that). There is a reason why 4.0 avoids the overly bleak scenario of the human psyche, and maintains a more balanced position. We all know every character in this film has insecurities and other personal issues, and the film doesn’t deny that. What the film denies, and this is the greatest divergence from the original, is that these characters aren’t all about insecurities and depression. A lot of them won’t cower in their own distress and anxiety, and instead choose to keep moving on. Certainly there are characters who can’t do this, or those who have yet to manage to do this. And for better or worse, this is definitely a more accurate representation of humanity, not from the lens of a depressed man, but from the lens of someone who understands human behaviors and treats it with greater objectivity. To me, this is where 4.0 exceeds EoE. EoE makes every single one of its characters so frustratingly psychologically similar, even if their issues aren’t. And in a way, it reflects Anno’s whilom view on humanity and human relationship, but that view is inherently of little worth because it’s so filled with dissatisfaction and misanthropy. I mean, sure the ending made up for it, but it definitely didn’t change its view on humans as a whole (who seemingly aren’t made up of good values, so EoE’s persuading people to appreciate one another for their true, vulnerable and selfish self instead of seeking what good traits they have). From how I see it, 4.0 has a point of view that I much prefer.

But let’s not get too content here. The characters’ interactions, dynamics, relationships and most importantly, roles in the narrative, all suffice their existence in the movie. But that doesn’t mean everything is nicely executed. Overall, I’d say character writing is generally fine, but the execution greatly fluctuates. Shinji’s selfless act of freeing everyone at the end comes across as good-guy-solving-everyone’s-problem; also probably a bit too out of character for such little time. It’s not that I think the progress didn’t make sense, at least writing-wise, but the execution was incredibly heavy-handed at times. The dialogues are sometimes so un-organic, like Rei asking a simple question “What do you think I should do?” to a random stranger to which she receives a baffling response “You’re yourself right? So you should do what you like?”. I mean I’m sure they have no idea what she thinks or believes at the time, so answering as if you’re spoon-feeding her with goodwill ideologies definitely makes it less engaging. Also, most of the dialogues are about things that you probably won’t and won’t need to understand, and there’s a lot of that. So I don’t think I enjoyed the script all that much.

And tonally, the movie seems to be incapable of settling on a certain one. And a ‘certain tone’ doesn’t bespeak an unchanging tone. Even with tone shifts, there should be a thread of consistency. The first few sequences aren’t bad, it gets things done by setting the film out to be action-filled. Then comes the first act, which reasonably gets slowed down significantly. But then, to balance out the first act and the bombastic and climatic third act, the second act needs to be extra heedful in order to make it work. Which it isn't. The second act is what you can call almost tonally nonexistent. It is supposed to build tension from peacefulness of its previous act, but it doesn’t take its time to do so. It is monotonous and forgettable, which worsens everything subsequently. It is arguably the most important segment to make the whole function work, but unfortunately it didn’t pull off. All things considered, the movie has a bad sense of tone, and everything following act 1 is cluttered events that make me almost lose all interest.

But, be that as it may, 4.0 is nigh beguiling, additionally for whatever befuddling emotions it has managed to evoke in me, I do think it is, to put it mildly, worth the time. And while 4.0 might not incorporate that dense esoteric cinematic language that would have Eva fans ejaculating uncontrollably, the movie definitely doesn’t treat the audience like some airhead adhd dumdum either. Being more contemplative (which EoE arguably isn’t), slower (not EoE) or more indecipherable doesn’t make a movie more intellectual, nor does it make its enjoyers any smarter. The cleverness, or even intelligence, of a movie doesn’t lie within that. For what it is, at least 4.0 sort of delivers. I’m sure my view on this movie will continue to change, but for now, I’m both disappointed and strangely satisfied. It has this bittersweet but unfalteringly buoyant finale that kind of hits the right spot for me, despite every stupid little thing happens before that. And I guess Anno once again has accomplished what he’s best at, dividing the anime community. This movie will enrage people, make people either screech in anger or feel inspired. It either touches your heart, or makes you hate positive Anno and beg him to become depressed again so that he can cook you some experimental art-house movie like in the early 2000s. Either way, it is quite a memorable experience, altogether frustrating, uplifting, disappointing and satisfying. And I’m sure this movie will be talked about for years in the future, for what it is and not just for being part of an already established legacy.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Apr 1, 2023

CriticalShock

Not Recommended

Over 8 years of waiting for this, what a disappointment. Thrice Upon a Time feels more like a fanfic or parody than the "culmination" of Evangelion (that culmination came in 1997 with The End of Evangelion). I really thought it couldn't get any worse than the previous movie, but Thrice somehow managed it, no wonder it had a troubled production (production was a disjointed clusterfuck as seen in the documentary 'Hideaki Anno: The Final Challenge of Evangelion'). This was Anno's last opportunity to fix all the problems of the previous Rebuild films, especially after 3.0 left so many important questions unanswered. Why was the Near ... Third Impact so destructive? (at the end of 2.0 Kaworu stopped it just in time) How did Gendo and Fuyutsuki manage all NERV on their own when it seems that absolutely all the NERV staff betrayed them to form WILLE? What happened to Kaji? Why did SEELE disappear? What's the in-world explanation for the Eva's curse? Who is Mari? This movie either ignores or provides very unsatisfactory answers to these questions. Anno not only didn't fix any of the plot holes and inconsistencies, he made them worse, it's so bad it retroactively makes 3.0 even worse. Some may say "That's ok, Evangelion's focal point is its philosophical message and the characters' psyches, the post-apocalyptic narrative and robots are just dressing", that might be true but just because "the robots" end up taking a backseat to the introspection sequences doesn't mean bad writing should be given a pass (this movie fails at being a psychological exploration of its characters anyway).

Thrice runtime is 2 hours and 35 minutes long, it's the third longest animated movie ever made. Two and a half hours of bad exposition/info dumps, asspulls, contradictions, unconvincing character development, in-your-face/condescending meta-narrative and mindless CG action. The only good part of the movie is when they are in the village. This segment is the only part where the writing and character interactions felt natural (even though character development felt extremely rushed and unbelievable). It’s also visually impressive, the 2D animation, background art and cinematography really shines, unfortunately this doesn't last long and the rest of the movie mainly consists of bombastic action. It wouldn't be so bad if at least the action was good, but sadly long gone is the quality of action scenes like Asuka vs the Mass Production Evas from EoE; elegantly choreographed and accompanied with well thought out composition and camera movement, the amazing 2D animation of this scene looks just as good today as it did 24 years ago. Now we have ugly CG Evas (that already look outdated) with unnecessarily convoluted designs, stiff animation and a camera that cannot be still for a second (the constant camera spinning was absolutely nauseating). It's not just that they look bad, there's also no tension or anything at stake since Asuka and Mari can easily defeat thousands of Evas by simply shooting them with their guns (what good are their AT fields?).

The plot is very straightforward but full of unfamiliar terminology and lore exposition since the worldbuilding continues to be incredibly sparse compared to NGE. This has been a problem with the Rebuild films since 2.0 and it only got worse with each subsequent entry thanks to the timeskip. NGE had excellent lore and worldbuilding, it never gave you all the answers, but it gave you enough information to make sense of what was going on, while remaining consistent and believable whitin itself. Rebuild is a complete failure in this regard, and in Thrice everything feels more contrived, nonsensical and excessive than ever. Anyway, this movie gets so ridiculously meta none of this ends up mattering, so let's move on.

[ Beware of spoilers from now on. ]

What about the characters? They were always the strong suit of Evangelion. In NGE it took a realistically long time for Rei to behave like a human being in front of anyone that wasn't Gendo, in Thrice she's suddenly a cute baby full of curiosity, even though not long ago she was an emotionless doll, colder than ever during the events of the previous movie. Her character arc and relationship with Shinji are ruined with the awesome revelation that Rei was programmed to like Shinji à la Mikasa and is not choosing him over Gendo out of her own free will. I have to admit it was nice seeing Rei farming and hanging out with the old ladies, but this is the 2nd time we're seeing her humanization in these movies, it feels very redundant. Shinji starts out very depressed because of the death of Kaworu then Rei (after winning his affection) dies in front of him and instead of falling further into depression he suddenly becomes a stoic chad who is unfazed when someone points a gun at him. He transforms into an overly optimistic character, absolutely motivated to play the hero completely out of nowhere and of course everyone keeps telling him how much he has grown up, "Wow Shinji you have grown, you're a generic shonen protagonist now". Such is his mental fortitude and gravitas that he can talk Cyclops Gendo (a literal god and 4D chess master) into submission, not bad for someone that a few days ago suffered from severe depression and PTSD (he was borderline suicidal). Asuka continues to exist only for blatant fanservice (she spends most of her screen time half naked for no reason) and to tsunderely have a crush on Shinji, we hardly see anything from her past that makes us sympathize with her or a justification for her toxic behavior and instead we get a last minute asspull revelation: Asuka was a clone the whole time, because that's what Evangelion needed, more clones. Mari always felt like an unwanted guest on Evangelion, a Mary Sue whose dialogue consists almost entirely of one liners and only appears during combat/fanservice scenes, never having any meaningful interaction with any of the other characters. I've always hated Mari because RoE already had simplified versions of the original cast, with far fewer scenes to develop as characters than they had in NGE and she was stealing precious screen time from them. "No matter where you are, I'll come get you, Puppy Boy", yeah, yeah, shut up Anno's wife self-insert. This is the final movie and we do not see another facet of Mari or an interesting origin story relevant to the plot, no, she is still the same one-dimensional character singing and fooling around during critical moments, her existence in these movies is never justified. Worst of all, out of all the movies, this one gives her the most screen time while far better characters like Misato and Ritsuko were put aside. Yes, Misato is once again relegated to a very minor role, most of her dialogue is just poor exposition about what happened to Kaji (Gendo and Ritsuko were also reduced to exposition spouting robots).

This time around the Human Instrumentality is much more direct thanks to Gendo constantly explaining everything with unnecessary info dumps, "This is the world of your memories. Our senses can't perceive the anti-universe. Therefore the LCL has created a virtual environment we can perceive", it's all dumbed down so even the dumbest normie can understand. It's as if during the sandbox sequence from EoE there was some know-it-all character explaining the meaning behind all the symbolism and metaphors, ruining the atmosphere and leaving no place for interpretation. The Human Instrumentality should offer viewers more space for imagination and self-reflection. Fourth Impact, Another Impact, Additional Impact or whatever the fuck it's called, basically consists of bad CG, superficial visual callbacks to EoE, Gendo's backstory/introspection (admittedly this part wasn't so bad) and happy send-offs to all the main characters that felt rushed and unearned. Yeah, Shinji is such a Gary Stu now he doesn't even need psychotherapy through Instrumentality anymore, instead he is the fucking psychotherapist fixing everyone's problems. Our protagonist was reduced to a plot device.

3.0+1.0 also went way too far with its 4th wall breaking elements. Once again EoE did it so much better, it just works better when it's done subtlety (e.g., the death threats/fan mail flashed on screen at the end of the live action sequence). Shinji saying "Neon Genesis", bad CG on purpose (Unit-01 vs Unit-13 fight in Tokyo-3) and uncanny valley giant Rei were just too much, instead of leaving me in awe or perplexed I was laughing and unimmersed.

Even the message of the movie feels wrong. The message of NGE was: "You are worthy of love, especially from yourself. Social interaction can be painful but you need to connect with other people in order to be happy, don't be afraid/don't run away". The message of this movie is: "Say bye-bye to Evangelion, it's time to grow up. Stop being a loser (otaku), go outside and touch grass. Get some pussy like I (Hideaki Anno) did". It's very meta but also very condescending, hypocritical and redundant. This meta-message felt so much more sincere and empathetic the way it was delivered during the live action sequence in EoE ("You were avoiding the truth by escaping into a fictional world"), mainly because there wasn't a "gorgeous gal with big boobs" representation of Anno's wife lusting over Shinji/Anno, and because 'The END of Evangelion' was supposed to be the end of Evangelion, but no, Anno had to make 4 more multi-million dollar movies in the span of 14 years just to tell us once again to move on from Evangelion, not content with that he's also judging us as immature while simultaneously putting more butt shots in this movie than the entirety of the previous Rebuild movies and NGE combined. Meta-narrative aside Shinji literally ran away from HIS real world and all its problems, this is escapism at its worst. In both EoE and NGE Shinji rejects Instrumentality and decides to return to the real world even though that means being hurt, basically he decides to stop running away from reality and start facing it, this movie is the complete opposite. The realistically optimistic EoE: "Anywhere can be paradise as long as you have the will to live". The overly optimistic and delusional 3.0+1.0: "Erase your reality and get yourself isekai'd to a different reality". World resets are such cop-out endings, they don't belong in Evangelion, they are incompatible with its anti-escapism message. And of course Shinji ends up with Mari, even though story-wise it doesn't make sense since they hardly ever interacted with each other (plus Mari is really a 50-something year old woman making moves on a minor, that's fucked up), but that's just how it had to be because Shinji is Anno's self-insert and Mari is Anno's wife self-insert in this condescending allegory of growing up.

In the 90s Anno was struggling with depression and Evangelion was a way of therapy for him. So Eva has always been a deeply personal reflection of its creator, but its themes were universal and relatable, knowledge of Anno's personal life was never necessary to understand and appreciate NGE. Unfortunately that's not the case anymore. Shinji is suddenly a completely different person, he's full of confidence and optimism, why? Because Anno is a different person now, he's no longer in a dark state of mind. The only justification for Mari being a complete non-character is that she's a representation of Anno's wife, coming into his life to make it better. You need to know a lot about Anno's personal life to justify Shinji acting so out of character, him and Mari ending up as a couple, Mari's role, and the forced overly optimistic/happy ending (Shinji getting his choker removed is obviously a metaphor for Anno breaking free from the burden of Evangelion, specifically the burden of "Rebuilding" Eva, a burden he took upon himself when he didn't have to). Having an underlying meaning behind all the in-world nonsense doesn't make a story good, good writing does. There's only one thing worse than knowing Anno ruined RoE's narrative and characters for the sake of an extremely personal and overindulgent meta-narrative, and that's being completely in the dark about all of this, which is the case for many new fans and casual viewers, and let's not forget RoE main target was to attract those people.

On a side note this movie has one of the worst cases of unwanted fanservice during a serious moment I've ever seen, yeah I'm talking about the butt shots of Toji's sister during that dramatic scene. Evangelion has always had lots of fanservice, but unlike this movie it was always used at the right times.

TLDR: Thrice Upon a Time does not give a satisfactory answer to the many unaswered questions left by its predecessor, Anno no longer treats his audience with respect and now feels the need to explain everything with bad exposition, character development is unconvincing or lacking because most of the runtime is wasted on awful CG action scenes (those first 10 minutes in Paris were so incredibly unecessary), the meta-narrative/4th wall breaking elements felt too intrusive and the message is condescending, hypocritical and redundant.

No one ever believed that the Rebuild films could possibly leave a legacy comparable to that of NGE and EoE, but I think I speak for many Eva fans when I say that we didn't think Anno would disappoint us so badly either. In its advertising this film has been announced as "The end of Evangelion" ("Bye-bye, all of Evangelion"), but for me this is only the end of Rebuild of Evangelion. I don't care about endless cycles, time loops and multiverses, for me the real end of Evangelion happened in 1997 and that's the way it should have stayed.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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